Patrolman Bill Moore, the department's narcotics investigator, said officers. He described it as the largest fentanyl bust on a U.S. highway in history. The number of people affected by drug abuse is increasing every day, and Vandergrift Pennsylvania is no exception to this epidemic. Northern lights provide a trippy show over Alaska's Glacier Bay, Mike Lee demands Japan free naval officer; briefly suspended on Twitter, Storm's second wave heads for Utah, possibly adding 1-3 feet of mountain snow, Return-to-office rates low in US, high in Asia and Europe. Obviously the drugs, the cocaine, is coming from outside of Brandon but we believe the network itself was working within Brandon, says Sgt. The driver, identified as Maldonado, told the trooper he had spent a week in the town of Grand Junction visiting family. The individual who was delivering that amount of fentanyl is now in the wind. A fentanyl courier moving enough to kill millions got busted, then slipped the DEA. Photo of some of the seized items from Brandons largest drug bust. Pasadenas four-officer drug squad, for instance, focuses exclusively on cases within its community. Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen says its an example of the continued effort to collaborate between agencies. DEA spokeswoman Katherine Pfaff declined to comment to NBC News, citing the ongoing investigation. Here's where each case is now, according to court records: Pedro Jurado, of Midvale, was sentenced on Jan. 17 to six years in federal prison followed by four years of supervised release. By January 2021, the investigation shifted its attention from Suriel to Cruz and his organization, which is based out of the Richmond Hill and South Ozone neighborhoods in Queens. Recent Arrest Information for Madera County California The newcomer team, by contrast, had been tailing the suspect for only part of that day after buying 2 kilograms of cocaine from him, he said. How did arrests more than 40 miles away tie in to Simi Valley? Overdose deaths have also spiked in Indiana, where the fentanyl from the Colorado bust was apparently headed. His federal sentence is running concurrent to three state sentences. Proudly created with. Proudly created with Wix.com. The trail always starts in Torrance, he insisted, perhaps with a raid on a drug stash house that uncovers deposit slips from an out-of-town bank. Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. The Brandon Police Service along with several other agencies, including the Winnipeg Police Service and the Manitoba Criminal Intelligence Centre, entered into a high-level interprovincial cocaine trafficking investigation called Project Banish in September 2021. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. Are you and/or a loved one in search of drug and alcohol rehab in Vandergrift? As of Feb. 9, six more defendants who took plea deals are waiting for sentencing. Alan Price, head of that citys drug and vice detail: Police work is becoming big business.. Hernandez-Alvarez is scheduled for sentencing on March 9, with an expected sentence of no more than eight years in prison. Narcotic Anonymous and Alcoholic Anonymous are two support groups that bring addicts together to encourage each other towards a healthier and sober life. A lethal dose of fentanyl is as little as 2 milligrams; authorities recovered 20.5 . But at least once, competition destroyed a case, said Torrances Marsden, calling it the downside of asset forfeiture. He refused to name the other departments involved in that incident, explaining, Dont want to start any range wars, you know.. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped three additional drug charges and two additional firearms charges. In practice, most drug suspects decide not to go through the rigorous and sometimes self-incriminating hearing process. Here are the five states that have received the greatest amounts of cash and property seized in raids and returned to local police departments under a 1984 federal law administered by the U.S. Marshals Office. Before such laws, the Franchise Tax Board was the sole state agency able to claim seized property--and then only for unpaid taxes. Warmer storms could cause problems, The chance of a lifetime: Five friends ski the tallest mountain in Los Angeles, Shocking, impossible gas bills push restaurants to the brink of closures, Review: A reimagined Secret Garden fails to flower anew at the Ahmanson Theatre, High school basketball: Southern California and Northern California Regional results and updated pairings, Im visiting all 600 L.A. spots on the National Register. The Burbank Police Department bought its first helicopter thanks to drug dealers. I wanted to give you guys something different today not just a doom and gloom story, Brian Besser, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administrations Denver Field Division, said. We were screaming to each other through open windows as we were driving down the freeway.. According to the DEA, roughly one year ago, defendant Manuel Suriel allegedly began selling cocaine at a restaurant in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. And it looks like there are no other bad guys in custody, as far as we know, so that is a large-scale failure.. Fred James. Most of the defendants were arrested in a coordinated law enforcement sweep in November . But Maldonado began running afoul of the law while he was still in his teens. The treatment center helps addicts who are on the way to recovery, embrace God and reconnect w. YP, the YP logo and all other YP marks contained herein are trademarks of YP LLC and/or YP affiliated companies. For reasons of safety and courtesy, it is standard procedure for officers who travel into other cities to inform hometown police. 9 kilos of cocaine seized in Brandons largest-ever bust, along with $450K and more. 2. Her sentencing is scheduled for March 22. Massive meth bust by police has wide-ranging impacts on Winnipeg: advocates. U.S. overdose deaths topped 100,000 for the first time last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fueled in large part by fentanyl. On an older Facebook page, he posted a comment in July 2020, lamenting how only nine people had reacted to a new profile picture. Sandy resident Jessica LeAnn Vigil was given four drug possession and distribution charges. This is a fiasco for the DEA, one policing expert said. Stephanie Gosk is an NBC News correspondent based in New York City. http://www.wtae.com/news/Tip-to-police-leads-to-Westmoreland-County-drug-bust/38493052. If were in a quiet neighborhood . Drug Abuse & Addiction Centers (559) 825-8288. Anthony "Lil Ace" James Runion, of Salt Lake City, was also charged with two counts of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI assistant director and an NBC News national security contributor, said the DEA is most likely conducting an internal investigation. Through their world-class scientists, photographers, journalists, and filmmakers, Nat Geo gets you closer to the stories that matter and past the edge of what's possible.Making an Undercover Drug Bust | Locked Up Abroad: Declassifiedhttps://youtu.be/uXDnyLQ83hgNational Geographichttps://www.youtube.com/natgeo All but one of the suspects have been released with court appearances beginning in December. I wanted you to see that behind the scenes there is aggressive and tenacious police work being done and prosecution being done to save lives and to bring people to justice.. and theres a bunch of goofy looking narcs, whats going to happen is a black and white (police car) is going to come and its going to blow a stakeout.. Estes was sentenced on Sept. 21, 2022, to three and a half years in prison and three years of supervised release. 1:05 9 kilos of cocaine seized in Brandon's largest-ever bust, along with $450K and more. He was charged with two counts of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, and prosecutors dropped one when he pleaded guilty to the other in April 2022. Maldonado has family in Mexico, but he grew up in the tiny town of West Liberty, Iowa (population: 3,800), according to the warrant application. Joseph "Qujo" Raymond Trujillo, of West Valley City, was sentenced on Nov. 8, 2022, to 10 years in prison and four years of supervised release. Correct phone is 412-229-7848. Does recovery, Subutex, Buprenorphine, substance abuse, drug rehab, addiction medicine. Local, state and federal officials announced in June 2021 that the defendants were indicted by a federal grand jury on 34 counts including conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl; money laundering; engaging in a continual criminal enterprise and firearms charges. A variety of methamphetamine drugs, valued at some $16,000,000, was seized during several multi-agency drug busts in North Texas. STATE CASH RECEIVED VALUE OF PROPERTY TOTAL CALIFORNIA $39.9 million $7.5 million $47.4 million TEXAS $8.7 million $1.9 million $10.6 million NEW YORK $8.9 million $1.9 million $10.8 million NORTH CAROLINA $2.8 million $3.2 million $6 million FLORIDA* $1.7 million $1.9 million $3.6 million. He was a member of the West Liberty High School varsity football team for at least one season, according to the high school sports website Max Preps. Most of the California claims come from the Los Angeles area, where the Colombian and Mexican cocaine cartels are well entrenched. The drug bust marks the second time this year that federal authorities in the Bay Area have touted large-scale methamphetamine seizures. Other departments have spent their cash on drug-sniffing dogs, bulletproof vests and cellular telephones. We show up crawling through the bushes and theyre there scratching their heads not knowing whether were cops or crooks, he said. Listed below are some of the Los Angeles-area police departments that have specialized squads of officers who concentrate on investigations of high-level dealers, often going beyond their cities borders to make arrests and seize drugs. The Simi Valley Police Department is still awaiting a $400,000 claim from a drug bust in Orange County and the San Gabriel Valley more than two years ago, according to Sgt. Disclaimer : RehabList.org presents educational information, not medical advice. Salt Lake City resident Jesus Avila-Garcia is scheduled for a final pretrial conference on March 6. Salt Lake City resident Linda Hernandez-Alvarez pleaded guilty in October 2022 to three drug distribution charges and two money laundering charges. Show more Show more Making a Deal With a Cartel Boss | Locked Up Abroad National. But it still takes an average of 18 months for local police agencies to receive the money and property they confiscate. Weve got a record amount of fentanyl involved here, in fact, enough fentanyl to kill everyone in the state of Colorado, Figliuzzi said. The Mystery of the $200 Million Drug Bust | The War on Drugs VICE 16.6M subscribers Subscribe 22K Share 2.1M views 1 year ago This is the story of how the biggest cash bust in the history of. Youve got to remember what our primary role is--to get the dope dealers off our street in our city, explained Lt. Jerry Schultze, head of the unit. How bad is it? In exchange, prosecutors dropped two additional drug distribution charges. Learn more about how rehab works. Authorities seized about seven . Police and prosecutors said this is most likely the largest drug bust ever on the Eastern Shore, breaking up a major drug distribution ring that police said had plans to service the entire Mid . Torrance police similarly said a tip from a separate investigation alerted their seven-officer drug team and federal agents to a case that culminated in June with two arrests in Glendale and the seizure of a suitcase stuffed with $800,000, so heavy that the drug dealers had to drag it. These support groups are designed to encourage addicts and family/friends to share their personal stories in a non-judgemental setting where they can embrace the support from the community around them. * Figures for all states cover only cash and property returned to police departments under the federal asset forfeiture law. *. She is based in Washington. Among the cases Besser highlighted was the seizure of 114 pounds of pure fentanyl in June enough, he said, to kill more than 25 million people. He pleaded guilty in May 2022 to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. 4002 Warrensville Center Road Warrensville Heights, OH 44122. The ultimate irony is not only are they stripped of their ill-gotten gains, said Sgt. Prosecutors dismissed five charges when Lucero pleaded guilty in March 2022 to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to launder money. David Maldonado managed to drive away from federal drug agents after he agreed to cooperate with them. In effect, youre punishing the person first and having the trial afterward, said Joel Maliniak, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. His trial is set to start on March 13. He was sentenced on Oct. 18, 2022, to 12 years in prison and five years of supervised release. The investigation came to a head during the week of Nov. 21, when police executed 11 search warrants in and around the city: We do have an ongoing dialogue with social service groups and the health-care system within the province and within Brandon here itself to hopefully have this gap in supply turn into some positive results for those trying to break free of addiction, says Deputy Chief Randy Lewis. The crooks are getting smarter.. Sal, a DEA agent, describes one of his first sting operations while tracking down a large drug cartel in Mexico. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/NatGeoSubscribeGet More National Geographic:Official Site: http://bit.ly/NatGeoOfficialSiteFacebook: http://bit.ly/FBNatGeoTwitter: http://bit.ly/NatGeoTwitterInstagram: http://bit.ly/NatGeoInstaTikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@natgeoTenor: http://on.natgeo.com/31b3KocAbout National Geographic:National Geographic is the world's premium destination for science, exploration, and adventure. Copyright Rehab List 2023. The way we work now, the smugglers have control of the case and its up to them where we go. Joe Klein, head of the Fullerton Police Departments drug detail. A 27-year-old man, who police accuse of being the leader, remains in custody, according to MacBeth. The backlog grew so quickly that it soon was taking the office 250 days merely to begin processing a claim. A spokesman for the Colorado State Patrol, which made the initial discovery of the fentanyl, provided a blunt account of the botched operation. She also allegedly disbursed the money to another member of the drug trafficking organization to pay for a resupply of cocaine, MacBeth says. Due to the sensitive and/or legal subject matter of some of the content on globalnews.ca, we reserve the ability to disable comments from time to time. This investigation highlights how drug traffickers are armed and dangerous, selling drugs and guns on our city streets, DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank Tarantino III said in a statement. Please see our Commenting Policy for more. man, what a s----y path has been given to me!. The teams ended up joining forces and arresting several suspects, Hamilton said. Don Goldberg, but their drug profits are being turned against them.. All the seizures and seven resulting arrests were made outside Burbank. The trooper scanned the inside of Maldonados car and noticed that it was empty except for a couple of energy drinks, some gas station snack foods and a blanket on the back seat. The massive drug bust is just one of several made across the country each year. Joseph "Chino" Paul House, of Taylorsville, pleaded guilty in October 2021 to being a felon in possession of a firearm. April 24, 2021 @ Penn Crossing, Westmoreland County - Reduction in Overdose Deaths for Third Year, SAFE Panel - Ligonier Valley HS, 11/17 @ 6:30, Westmoreland Community Action drug help line: 1-844-897-8927, 7pm-2am, Westmoreland district courts 1st in PA to offer drug treatment as an alternative, New hotline launched in Westmoreland County: 1-844-897-8927, 50 Common Mistakes That Parents Make When They Discover Their Kids Are Using, 25 facts you should know about the growing heroin epidemic, TRIB: Police: Bust leads to $90K in raw fentanyl in Ligonier, Spike in U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths During COVID-19, As pandemic worsens, opioid crisis continues, Drug Take Back Day - Sat. Of some of the drug trafficking crime from the Colorado bust was apparently.... Enough to kill millions got busted, then slipped the DEA are and/or. Is as little as 2 milligrams ; authorities recovered 20.5 in Vandergrift News correspondent in... 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